Dirigible eye structure for dolls and manikins



May 27,1930. J. c. POORE 1,760,318

DIRIGIBLE EYE STRUCTURE F R DOLLS AND MANIIYKINS Filed Jan. 7, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 .156. 4 Jim 2 JQM .cjaaer 'WKW ATTO RN EYS J. c. POORE 1,760,318 DIRIGIBLE EYE STRUCTURE FOR DOLLS AND MANIKINS May 27, 1930.

Filed Jari. 7, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 9. 6 3 7 9 2 WW 5% 5. 6 6 J J 5 5} E 5 22 g A JM 500a lNvEm'oR ATTORNEYJ Patented May 27, 1930 PATEN GFFICE.

JOHN C. POORE, OF UTICA, NEW YORK DIRIGIBLE EYE STRUCTURE FOR DOLLS AND MANIKINS Application filed January '7, 1929.

My present invention relates to dirigible eye structures for dolls and manikins.

The purpose of my present invention is to provide a structure that is simple and economical in structure, readily assembled, durable in operation and not likely to get out of order.

A further purpose is to provide a dirigible eye structure that can be used readily and satisfactorily with either solid or hollow spherical eyes and still get the desired extent of motion of the eyes.

Further purposes and advantages of this invention will appear from the specification and claims herein.

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through a (1011 or manikin head equipped with an eye structure embodying my invention, the eyes being directed straight forward.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on line 2 22 of Fig. 1, the eyes being directed straight forward.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view similar to Fig. 1, but with the eyes moved downwardly.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view similar to Fig. 2, but with the eyes directed to one side.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of hinged plate 22.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of eye bracket 27.

Fig. 7 is a front elevation of yoke 34 and Fig. 8 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 9 is a detail side elevation of the joint between the hinged plate 22 and the forward post 14.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged detail vertical sectional view of the joint between the operating lever and its mounting in the frame.

Fig. 11 is a rear elevation of the locking plate 41.

Fig. 12 is a vertical sectional view on line 12-12 of Fig. 10.

Fig. 13 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 12, but with the locking plate in position so that the lever collar 38 is unlocked.

Fig. 14 is a rear elevation of the guide ring and immediately adjacent parts seen on line 1414 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing in a more particular description it will be seen that the eye structure is adapted to be placed as a unit within the hollow head 10 of a doll or mani- Serial No. 330,793.

rearward upstanding posts 14 and 15 respectively. This frame is attachable to the head as shown in Fig. 1 by being mounted upon an adjustable sliding shelf 16 the ends of which are projected into suitable recesses formed in the head and with the members of said shelf and the horizontal part of the frame 13 held together by small bolts 17 and nuts 18.

In F ig. 3 is illustrated an alternative method of attachably securing the eye structure in the head by screwing said frame 13 directly to the top of a block 19 of wood or other suitable material rigidly held in place in the lower part of the head as by imbedding said block 19 in plaster of Paris or other plastic material 20.

The upper end of the forward post is preferably reduced in width and in such narrow portion the post has horizontally mounted therein a pin 21 having its ends project at opposite ends from said posts towards the two eye openings. On the opposite ends of this pin is hingedly mounted the forward edge of the hinge plate 22 as by having the forward spaced parts 22* of said hinge plate curved downwardly beneath the ends of said pin 21 and then upwardly to the front thereof. By having the front post at its opposite sides extend towards the pin 21 far enough to reach the lower sides of the forwardly projecting parts 22 said parts 22 of the hinge plate;

do not have to be bent over the top of the hinge pin 21. The hinge pin 21 is located so that its axis is substantially on the line connecting the centers of the two eyes 2323 operatively carried by the hinge plate. The hinge plate is provided with two oppositely and laterally extending arms 24 each extending rearwardly about one eye and part way forwardly of its eye nearly to the line extending through the centers of the two eyes. The arms 24 and the adjacent part of the hinge plate have a forward curved edge 25 formed on a circle closely approximating the center of the adjacent eye carried indirectly by said respective arms. The rearward edge 26 of the arms is formed on a circle having the same center as the forward edge 25. Mounted upon each side of the hinge plate and mostly upon the arms 24 thereof there is provided for each arm a bracket 27. This bracket as shown in the plan view thereof, Fig. 6, has a sector-shaped portion 28 corresponding to the size and curve of the arms 24 and preferably as shown in the drawings located immediately below said arms and-slidingly mounted thereon by two forward ears 29 extending upwardly and back over the forward edge 25 of the arm 24 and by a rearward ear 3O similarly extending up and turned forwardly over the rearward edge 26 of the arms 24. Each bracket 27 is provided with a centrally located forwardly directed portion 31 adapted to enter the spherical eye 23 atthe rear thereof and project far enough into the eye to obtain a rigid mounting of the eye upon said bracket. At the rear of each bracket there is provided preferably integral therewith a rearwardly extending loop 32. Into the opening of these two loops 32 is inserted respectively the hooks 33 extend ing forwardly from the opposite ends of the yoke 34. This yoke as seen from the front elevation thereof, Fig. 7, is preferably formed from a piece of sheet metal shaped, cut and stamped to have at its opposite ends the forwardly extending hooks 33 and immediately to the rear thereof rearwardly extending hooks 35. At approximately the vertical central axis of the eye structure the said yoke is provided with an aperture 36 in which works the forward end of the operating lever 37.

It will now be seen that movement of the yoke 34 in an upwardly or downwardly direction will swing the hinge plate 22 on its horizontal axis, that is upon the pin 21, and thereby roll the eyes in unison in a reverse direction but on a similar horizontal axis, namely the axis of the pin 21 extended through the center of both eyes.

It will also be seen that moving the yoke 34 sidewise will slide the brackets 27 in unison upon their respective curved arms 24 and thereby roll the eyes sidewise on an axis pass ing through the center of the eyes perpendicular to the plane of the hinge plate 22. It will further be obvious from the con struction already described that either of these two movements of the eyes may be had independently of or separatefrom the other movement, but it is to be particularly noted that the two movements may be brought ab ut simultaneously in any desired combination.

In effect the eye structure so far described obtains a universal movement of the eyes in unison and within the range of possible movement allowed by the construction of the parts after the manner of a ball and socket joint, but that the oint 1s of such a construction that although the center of movement 1s at or substantially at the center of the eye afull spherical eye can still be used and the spherical eye not form a part or member of the joint, but that the joint members or engaging surfaces and parts forming the joint are outside of instead of within the eye.

As means for manually and conveniently controlling the movement of the eyes by movement of the yoke 34 there is provided as a part of the complete unit the operating lever 37. This operating lever is mounted intermediate its end upon the upper end of the rearward post 15 by a ball and socket or other universal joint and the rearward end of the lever extends slightly without the head through the rear operating opening 12 provided at the rear of the head. As the forward end of this operatinglever slidingly fits the aperture 36 in the center of the yoke 34 it will be seen that manipulation of the rearward projecting end of the lever 37 can bring about either movement of theeyes or an simultaneous combination of those movements as may be desired. 7

A convenient form of making the universal joint upon the operating lever 37 and of assembling such lever and the adjacent parts of the cevice will now be described not as limiting my invention, but as illustrative of a convenient and economical form of mak ing the same.

Intermediate the ends of the operating lever 37 there is provided a fixed annular collar 38 preferably of lens-like or tapering shape. I This collar seated in a circular recess 39 formed in the rearward post 15 and extending into said post from its rear side a sufiicient distance to seat said collar. To the front of this recess there is provided through the rest of the thickness of post 15 an opening 40 smaller than the diameter of the seat 39, but appreciablv larger than the diameterof the operating lever 37 which extends forwardly through said hole 40 as appears particularly from 10. The operating lever has its collar 38 removably held in the seat 39 by means of a sliding locking plate 41mounted immediately to the rear of the post 15 and having a vertically arranged slot 42 through which extends the rear vard half of the oper-;

ating lever 37. I

Fig. 11 is a rear elevation of this locking plate 41 showing the elongated slot 42composed of over-lapping circular apertures the upper part 43 of which is smaller than the diameter of the collar 38 while the lower part 44 is slightly larger than the diameter of said collar 38. f

As appears from Fig. 13 which is a detail sectional view on line 12-l2 of Fig. 10, it will be seen that when the locking plate is in raised position so thatits lower large aperture 44 is concentric with the joint seat 39 the operating lever may be assembled upon the unit by thrusting its forward end through the said aperture 44, the seat 39 and the hole and with the extreme forward end of the operating lever passing into the aperture 36 of the yoke until the collar 38 is housed in the seat 39 of the post 15. Then by moving the locking plate 41 downwardly until its smaller diametered aperture, that is the up per part 43 of the elongated slot 42, is concentric with the seat 39, the said collar 38 will be loosely held in the seat 39 as will ap pear from Fig. 12.

The locking plate 41 is held in position to the rear of the post 15, but allowed sliding movement relative thereto by means of a backplate 45 located immediately to the rear of the locking plate 41 and of a width equa ling the width of the said locking plate and of the adjacent portion of the post 15. From the vertical sides of this rear plate 45 there project forwardly past the locking plate 41 and the sides of the post 15 ears 46 the forward ends of which are turned toward each other against the adjacent forward side of the post 15. This rearward plate 45 by means of said ears 46 is slidingly mounted upon said post, but sufiiciently tight to stay where set. In the rearward plate 45 is a vertically arranged elongated slot 47 corresponding to the slot 42 in the locking plate 41, but having its larger diametered part 48 to the top while its smaller diametered part 49 is at the bottom of the slot as appears from the rearward elevation of said rear plate 45 in Fig. 14. By reason of this arrangement of the parts of slot 47 the large part 48 thereof must be in alignment with the seat 39 when the collar 38 is to be placed in or removed from the seat 39 and as already mentioned the lower part 44 of the locking plate 41 must also be'in alignment with the seat 39 for such removal or replacement of the collar.

From the upper and lower edges of the plate 45 there project upper and lower brackets 50 and 51 which at their rearward ends carry a guard ring 52 through the large central aperture 53 of which extends the rearward part of the operating lever 37. The aperture 53 of the guard ring 52 is of a size to limit the swinging of the rear part of the operating lever to the desired angle away from its normal direct forward and horizontal position. From the sides of the lower bracket 51 there extend in opposite directions wings 54 turned upwardly so that their ends are about in line with the normal horizontal position of the operating lever. To the outer ends of these wings there are attached the rearward ends of light coiled springs 55 th forward ends of which are attached to the rearwardly extending hooks 35 upon the yoke 34. These springs are arranged or tensioned to exert a slight rearward pull upon the central portion'of thebracket's 37 carrying the eyes. This spring tension is not enough to interfere withjthe manual direction of the eyes in any desired direction, but preferably will be sufiicient to return the'eyes'to their normal position of looking straight forward on a substantially horizontal line when the operators fingers are withdrawn from contact with the rear end of the operating lever 37 or the knob 56 preferably provided on the rear end of said lever.

WVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: Y

1. In a dirigible eye structure for dolls and manikins, the combination of a hollow head having eye openings at the front, a frame attachable to the interior of the head, a pair of spherical eyes in said openings, a plate hingedly mounted near its forward edge on said frame on a horizontal axis approximating the line connecting the centers of the two eyes, said hinge plate having oppositely directed lateral arms extending back of said eyes and having a guideway curved in a circle having approximately the same center as the adjacent eye, a bracket on each arm adapted to slide on said guideway of the arm and having forwardly extending means rigidly connected to the rear of the eye and means for swinging said plate on its axis and for sliding said brackets in unison on said plate.

2. In a dirigible eye structure for dolls and inanikins, the combination of a hollow head having eye openings at the front, a frame attachable to the interior of the head, a pair of spherical eyes in said openings, a plate hingedly mounted near its forward edge on said frame on a horizontal axis approximating the line connecting the centers of the two eyes, said hinge plate havin oppositely directed lateral arms extending back of said eyes and having their forward edges curved in a circle having approximately the same center as the adjacent eye, a bracket on each curved arm adapted to slide on said curved edge of the arm and having forwardly extending means rigidly connected to the rear of the eye and means for swinging said plate on its axis and for sliding said brackets in unison on said plate.

3. In a dirigible eye structure for dolls and manikins, the combination of a hollow head having eye openings at the front, a frame attachable to the interior of the head and hav ing forward and rearward upstanding posts, a pair of spherical eyes in said openings, a plate hingedly mounted near its forward edge on said forward frame post on a horizontal axis approximating the line connecting the centers of the two eyes, said hinge plate having oppositely directed lateral arms extending back of said eyes and having a guideway curved in a circle having approximately the same center as the adjacent eye, a bracket on each arm adapted to slide on said guideway of the arm and having forwardly extending means rigidly connected to the rear of the eye and means including a lever operatively mounted in said rear post for swinging said plate on its axis and for sliding said brackets in unison on said plate.

4. In a dirigible eye structure for dolls and manikins, the combination of a hollow head having eye openings at the front, a frame attachable to the interior of the head, a pair of spherical eyes in said openings, a plate hingedly mounted near its forward edge on said frame on a horizontal axis approximating the line connecting the centers of the two eyes, said hinge plate having oppositely directed lateral arms extending back of said eyes and having a guideway curved in a circle having approximately the same center as the adjacent eye, a bracket on each arm adapted to slide on said guideway of the arm and having forwardly extending means rigidly connected to the rear of the eye and a yoke operatively connected to said brackets whereby lateral movement of the yoke moves the brackets and rotates the eyes in unison on an axis at right angles to said plateand vertical movement of said yoke swings said plate and thereby rolls said eyes in unison on a horizontal axis.

In witness whereof I have affixed my signature, this 6th day of November, 1928.

JOHN C. POORE- 

